It is easy to be a Chancellor in years of plenty with strong growth and resultant tax receipts to spread around generously.

It should have brought Gordon Brown plenty of political allies. To be Chancellor in a banking meltdown is much harder – just ask Alistair Darling about Northern Rock. But to clear up after a global financial crisis is worse.

After his budget on Wednesday, George Osborne has proved again – on his own this time – that ‘When the going gets tough, George gets going.’

Changing Britain's economy: After his budget on Wednesday, George Osborne has proved again – on his own this time – that ‘When the going gets tough, George gets going’

Even with austerity, the country’s debt pile is still increasing and will continue to go up.

It will not be until around 2020 that the country even begins to pay back its debts. We have impoverished our children.

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I ‘dared’ to tweet during the budget: ‘Some sense finally #budget2015 limiting additional welfare support to two children. At last. If you want loads of kids, you pay for them.’

It provoked fury from lefties damning me for demanding women abort unborn children! Clearly that was not what I was suggesting, merely that parents should take financial responsibility for their offspring.

It utterly bemuses me that expecting adults to work for a living and pay their own way can be deemed wrong.

Osborne’s behavioural budget, trying to get businesses and Britons to do the ‘right thing’ was spot on. By using taxation and spending decisions he is seeking behaviour that is right for the individual and the country.

He wants businesses to invest for the future, to train their employees and to pay them a living wage. To encourage this he uses both a carrot and a stick. The carrot is lower corporate tax and increased investment allowances. The stick is the National Living Wage and the apprentice levy, penalising firms that don’t train staff. This is the exactly the right approach.

Divisions: The Living Wage has been criticised by business groups but firms should not rely on the benefits system to allow them to pay low wages and therefore generate higher profits

The Living Wage has been criticised by business groups but firms should not rely on the benefits system to allow them to pay low wages and therefore generate higher profits. The corporate tax rate has been cut from 28 per cent, and it will fall to 18 per cent, one of the lowest in Europe. Lower tax means there is more money to pay staff.

Business has been asked to spread the benefits of the recovery to employees and not just executives, including by the head of the IMF. If firms won’t do it voluntarily, then Osborne is right to make them do it legally. He should ignore their moaning.

It is the same carrot and stick approach with households. He wants adults to work and become less dependent on benefits. The carrot is the higher National Living Wage and the higher threshold at which income tax is paid – raised to £11,000. The stick is lower benefits.

And there is plenty of evidence that this approach has worked with 2million jobs created in the last Parliament, an extraordinary feat that few imagined possible.

Even the independent Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, has said reducing welfare has contributed to the fall in unemployment.

There is plenty of evidence that suggests working is better for both adults and their children. There are fewer mental health problems among the employed than the unemployed and children do better in homes where at least one parent works.

Costly: Even with the cuts, social protection will cost taxpayers around £230billion this year. A £12billion cut by 2019/20 is significant but it could be a lot larger

Even with the cuts, social protection will cost taxpayers around £230billion this year. A £12billion cut by 2019/20 is significant but it could be a lot larger.

Cuts are necessary because our financial recovery is still far from assured. That’s because the central assumption is that the UK economy will continue to grow for many years allowing us to slowly reduce the deficit, rebuild our finances and eventually repay our debt.

But what happens if we go into recession before that happens?

According to Bank of England data the length of an economic upcycle has averaged around five to six years in the last century.

Given the UK economy began its recovery in 2012/13, then this may only last until 2018/19. That is before we are back to budget surplus and therefore before we have begun to pay back the debt mountain. If that happens then we really are in trouble.

If you think Osborne was wrong to cut spending, take a long hard look at Greece. And remember Osborne’s great quote from his budget: ‘If a country’s not in control of its borrowing, the borrowing takes control of the country.’

We are not out of the fiscal woods yet, by a long way.

Be glad we have a Chancellor better than any we’ve had for decades, who realises this.

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George Osborne has put Britain on the path to economic prosperity, says financial analyst